[ronwalf]

World’s shortest covered two-way cycle track?

[ronwalf]

Good idea: Biking your kid to school.
Bad idea: blood donation and a 75% mileage boost in the same week.
Worse idea: Heading out the door for said trip dehydrated

[ronwalf]

My kid’s school has nothing! I’m locking up to a light post when I drop him off.

[ronwalf]

Beautiful morning.

After dropping off the kid at school, I stopped top help a guy with his flat. I carry many tools on my bike, but a breaker bar isn’t one of them, so we stood around looking forlorn for a minute or two.

Then I got into work, and noticed my VO saddle was a little wonky.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3643[/ATTACH]
Turns out the tension bolt sheared off somewhere. Argh. That saddle took 500 miles to break in. I don’t want to start again!

[ronwalf]

@Rando Guy 63319 wrote:

From my research and let me know if I’m wrong but, w/o purchasing a SON or the like and forking up the money for it, you’re going to eventually wear out a Shimano.

Yeah, the Shimano won’t last your lifetime. It probably has a good 10k miles in it, though. When I hit the spot where the “non-serviceable” bearings are giving me fit, I’ll go ahead and service them. It risks cutting the wires, but a former dyno-hub that spins is better than a generating dynamo hub that doesn’t.

[ronwalf]

@mstone 63308 wrote:

See, I could just go an get this, but then I’d have to buy a whole new bike to match. Grad student salaries… are what they used to be.

I’ll probably just wait a few months and pick up a new CR-18 and re-lace the front wheel. I’m not sure I want to do that for the back given the stresses rear spokes face.

[ronwalf]

@vvill 63227 wrote:

Hopefully next year there’s a Mithril level.

Is that better or worse than Unobtainium?

[ronwalf]

@Justin Antos 62083 wrote:

Does a single hub in the front wheel produce enough to power both a front and rear light? Or do you need a hub on the front and rear wheels?

You only need one hub (in fact, I can’t think of any rear dynamo hubs, although they may exist).

Most front lights are designed to work with a rear light. The first cable goes from the hub to the front light, and then another cable goes from the front light to the rear. The rear light only gets power if you turn the front light on (or, in sensor models, if it turns itself on).

[ronwalf]

@Justin Antos 62023 wrote:

1. The ability to flip the light on/off
2. Drag
3. Added weight
4. How easy/hard to remove?
5. Cost
6. Theft-proofing
7. Brands of hubs, and lights
8. Two hubs or one?
9. Can I power both a headlight and taillight
10. Is the USB charging thing useful, or a gimmick that adds complexity?

I have a Shimano DH-3N72 hub with IQ-Cyo R front light and a BM Toplight Line Plus in back.

1. The front light a sensor, but I rarely use it. It’s easy enough to just reach down to the fork and turn the knob if I need to. The back light comes automatically if the front light turns on.
2. I only notice the drag when the light is on at high speed (>25mph), where it causes a bit of vibration in the fork.
3. The hub itself is not much heavier than a somewhat bulky battery pack.
4. The hub has a plug for the wires which is easy to remove when I go to remove the wheel. The lights are fixed in place with screws and bolts.
5. Cost was maybe $170 for the lights and a bit less for pre-built wheel.
6. No one has bothered my lights. The front wheel gets the U-Lock, leaving the back wheel with the cable.
7. I really like the German lights. The Shimano hub has the disadvantage that only one set of bearings is easily serviceable.
8. More than one hub? You mean summer/winter wheels? I guess it costs you a $60 premium over just one hub, assuming you’d have two wheel sets anyway.
9. You can definitely power both front and back lights. Older front lights required it, in fact.
10. I’ve thought about adding a USB outlet, but only so I could start attaching some hobby electronics to my bike (arduino/raspberry pi stuff)

[ronwalf]

@consularrider 61907 wrote:

I was still have direct Garmin imput issues last night when I got home from the HH.

At noon today, for the first time since Monday morning, Endomondo let me import directly from the Garmin (although it now wants to re-import all the rides I upload manually).

[ronwalf]

Uploading via the plugin worked for me on Monday, but hasn’t worked since.

[ronwalf]

@NicDiesel 61572 wrote:

I might just be paranoid but I don’t ever plan on storing any of my rides outside. I’ve had two separate friends think they were safe locking their insane beef up (think ELITEs with more money than brains with $20K rides) with heavy chains and Ulocks in their garage. When I mentioned “you know, you have outlets in your garage and a grinder can cut through those chains in no time” they brushed me off as paranoid.

Clearly, you just need to invest in a better garage door.

[ronwalf]

Did you know? The Paint Branch Trail behind the elementary school now provides free on-trail parking!

[ronwalf]

@consularrider 60024 wrote:

Forgot to ask if you are submitting this for possible replacement under Kona’s lifetime frame warranty?

It’s not the most useful of warrantees:

http://www.konaworld.com/warranty.cfm wrote:

LIFETIME LIMITED WARRANTY ON BICYCLE FRAME

Kona further warrants to the original owner that the frame of this new Kona bicycle purchased from an authorized Kona dealer shall be free of defective materials or workmanship for the lifetime of ownership by the original owner (this warranty is limited to five years for carbon fiber frames and three years for Safariland Patrol Bikes and electric pedal assist frames). During this warranty period, Kona shall repair or replace, at its sole option, the bicycle frame if Kona determines the frame is defective and subject to this limited warranty. The original owner shall pay all labor and shipping charges connected with the repair or replacement of the bicycle frame.

So he needs to be able to show he is the original owner and then pay shipping charges (plus labor, if he gets a bike shop to strip it).

[ronwalf]

Looks like a certain Mr. Dread won some bike lights today.

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